Junior School 

As the semester ends, it is important for students to reflect on the year they had so far and consider what they may need to change. Students should have an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and show resilience in addressing issues that may be holding them back from reaching their potential. Whether this be lateness to school, being equipped for class, listening to teacher instructions or better reflecting our school values, all students should have the opportunity to make changes to improve. We encourage you to read over student reports that are released at the beginning of Term 3 and to check Compass regularly for any feedback from class teachers or co-ordinators. 

We have been encouraging our Year 7 students to be more mindful of how they treat other people in our school community. To encourage this, we ran a two week ‘kindness competition’ between the Year 7 forms. Teachers who noticed genuine acts of kindness and consideration towards others would award that student with a kindness token. Students would then place these in their form group box and the class with the most tokens after two weeks would win. Congratulations to class 7C who had the most tokens. They enjoyed a pizza lunch to celebrate their win. However, we hope that this encourages our students to be more mindful about how they interact with others, at school and in the community well beyond the two weeks of the activity.

During the last week of term, we also asked students to understand the notion of gratitude and saying 'thank you’. Our Year 8 students enjoyed our first ‘Pancake Positivity Celebration’, with pancakes and maple syrup cooked by their co-ordinators. In return, students wrote thank you notes for staff who have helped them throughout the semester.

Our school values of Respect, Responsibility and Resilience should be at the core of the decisions students make while in our school uniform. This includes taking responsibility to be at school and at classes on time. A reminder that students who are late to Period 1 will not be permitted to enter class and will need to report to the study hall. If this continues throughout the term, then consequences for continued lateness will kick into place, as per the school policy. To minimise being late to school, it is the students responsibly to:

• Ensure they go to bed at a decent hour, free from screens and devices
• Have a working alarm to ensure they wake up with enough time to get ready for school
• Have their uniform ready to go for when they wake up in the morning
• View their timetable for the next day, knowing what classes they have in Periods 1 and 2
• Leave home in the morning at a time that allows them to be at school on time
• Talk to family if traffic variations make them late and discuss leaving home earlier.

Simple steps such as these help students to be on time.

Finally, on the last day of term, we held our celebration assemblies for each year level. This was a great opportunity to recognise our students' academic success and how they have striven to achieve their best. We will have some photos available of this event in the next newsletter.

Wishing all students a restful semester break and look forward to working with everyone again in Term 3.

Adam Nettleingham

Junior School Co-ordinator

Poetry Competition

In Term 1, one of our Year 7s, Indira Anand (7C), won our poetry competition with her piece, An Ode to my Piano.

Like Ying and Yang,

Notes of Harmony,

Together it makes a Melody.

A smooth beat runs down its veins, 

And a beautiful song down it’s spine.

It’s sitting there in the grand,

Polished and ready to play.

Eager students, ready to learn,

And helpful teachers, ready to teach.

It’s a treat for the ears,

When it is played.

Proud parents,

Committed students,

And astonished teachers, ready to listen.

Melodic hands,

And beautiful voices,

Makes the symphony, 

All the better!